May 23, 2013

Who Has The Most To Gain From Pirelli Looking Bad?

Griping about tires continues in Monaco as pressure on Pirelli increases.

Vettel's relentless whining was in full glory on the Riviera, with the German accusing "someone" of not having done their homework.

Sebastian must know it was not Pirelli as much as Red Bull who had missed the boat but, with Webber dutifully piling on, it's clear there is a campaign to pressure Pirelli into doing what it cannot legally (sports legally anyway) do without the consent of all teams: change rubber compounds mid season.

There is a contract on the line, Pirelli still have not been given the official go ahead as F1 tire supplier for 2014 onward and one has to wonder how all this plays into it. Red Bull applying pressure to ensure future tire specs better suit their design philosophy?

Yes, but I doubt that's all there is. After all, up until just a few races ago, the F1 of the past few years was being hailed as very exciting and a great show, now all of a sudden it's declared a shit show that needs to be completely overhauled. Strange right? Power of the Red Bull Hospitality Buffet or maybe something more?

You might have caught a little item about how Bernie E "dissed" Jean Todt in Monaco by placing the FIA trailer in a supposedly less desirable spot in the paddock this year. Trivial maybe but a hint at the growing tension between Bernie, who many are foolishly waiting to drop dead retire any day and FIA boss Jean Todt who's role nobody quite understands.

It was Bernie's idea to convince Pirelli to produce not the best tire they could produce but one that would present a challenge to engineers while preventing one team from dominating. Todt on the other hand, being French might want to get a French company... say, Michelin, back in the game. Koreans are at the door too, looking for an opening, eager to spend big bucks . There are plenty circling, waiting to bite the Pirelli donut.

For Pirelli this is becoming a potential PR nightmare, as Filippo Zanier said in our email discussion, if forced to leave the sport public perception would be it was because they could not produce good enough tires . Paul Hembery must not get much sleep these days, our guess is that when tires construction gets reconfigured in the next few weeks, "for safety reasons", there will be a little special something for RBR in the compound.

Would be interesting to have multiple tyre manufacturers, and let teams choose what they want to run. Force competition to make the best tyres possible, F1 should be about the best technology we have, not limiting potential.